In June last year, in the midst of violence and a pandemic ravaging the streets of US cities – Justin Shaw built Black Money Builder, a fundraising platform to “empower your community and empower yourself.” Its ultimate goal is to help Black communities rebound from the virus by providing financial relief and bring awareness to current issues that affect the communities worldwide and provide a sense of urgency with potential solutions. The crowdfunding platform also provides Black entrepreneurs a space to build capital and help seed Black visionaries from artists,
Dominican American YouTube star Krystal Lora, with her 323,000 subscribers, is among the most popular technology reviewers, and she’s going from strength to strength as she uses her platform to break down the latest Apple and Google products for growing Latino YouTube audiences. It’s clear that Latinos across the US are shaking things up – whether as founders, investors, tech reviewers, or engineers. Although there’s still a long way to improve diversity in the industry and ensure the community is getting enough support and investment – this Friday POCIT is celebrating
The climate of today means if you want to reach a widespread audience you need to utilize social media. One key tool for founders and those looking for new tech opportunities is Linkedin – it’s the place to go for job offers, meeting potential investors, building your company and personal brand, and networking. With more than 774 million members and its focus on business, LinkedIn offers a valuable opportunity for industry professionals to support their businesses marketing goals. From my experience, it seems to be the best place for building connections with
Sabi, a spinoff from the African energy company Rensource, has raised a $6 million bridge round led by pan-African VC firm CRE Venture Capital. A bridge round of financing is exactly what it sounds like – a small round of funding to tide a startup over until its next larger round of fundraising. The money has come a year after it closed a $2 million seed round from CRE Venture Capital, Janngo Capital, Atlantica Ventures, and Waarde Capital. Ademola Adesina, the founder and CEO of Rensource and Anu Adasolum its COO launched the company back
A Black-owned music NFT platform, powered by Trapchain, Inc, has collaborated with indie music artist and native Chicagoan Willie Taylor, to drop his first NFT for his music project, “Write My Wrongs.” Taylor first gained notoriety as a contestant from MTV’s “Making the Band 4”, where Sean Combs chose him (P-Diddy) to be a member and one of the main vocalists for the band Day26 on August 26. 360NFT’s launch and debut NFT release commemorate the band’s popularity and success. Its streamlined ecosystem reportedly makes it easy for users to thrive on the blockchain without
A damning report has found that inflation is hurting the wallets of everyday citizens as it hits a 30-year-high in the US and people of color and rural households are the most affected. Researchers from the Bank Of America have reported that those with less income and wealth are less likely to have savings to buffer the current “inflation shock,” and because of this, their spending power is greater. But lower-income families are also more “exposed” to the goods with the most inflation, researchers wrote in a report released last week. The
Popular social media platform, Pinterest, has settled a shareholder lawsuit that alleged that top executives enabled a culture of discrimination. The move, which took place on Wednesday, was followed by a commitment by the firm to pay up $50 million to a series of reforms to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion across the company and its product. But financial details of the settlement between Pinterest, which was founded in 2008, and the shareholder, the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island, have not been shared publicly. In a statement to NBC
It was announced back in August that gBeta Medtech was on a mission to find Black founders for its end-of-year accelerator, and well – they found them and they’re pretty incredible. Five healthcare startups were chosen from more than 85 applicants for the 2021 Cohort, the first gBETA Medtech program specifically for Black founders. Each startup is receiving $34,000 in funding and “intensive, individualized coaching and access to gener8tor’s national network of mentors, customers, corporate partners, and investors.” Here’s a list of the startups chosen: bTECH’s Launched by Wendy Slone, bTECH’s
The Framework has raised $2 million in a seed round to create an “on-demand business school” aimed at startups. The edtech platform says it already has more than 2,500 people on its waitlist ahead of its launch next year. The firm’s idea is that members learn directly from tech operators from companies including Slack, ASOS, Flo Health, and Netflix via 15-minute “Frameworks” and live office hours sessions. Members can also make 1:1 connections with each other. This is sometimes called “snackable” content. LearnStart, the seed fund of Learn Capital, Evio
When creating a startup, you go through a few hurdles along the way – from financial challenges to picking the right co-founder that will help spearhead the company with you. It’s never an easy journey, and you should never believe anyone that tells you otherwise, so it’s always essential to have a mentor or an advisor who can share their mistakes and lessons – so you don’t make the same errors. Unfortunately, not everyone has the privilege of landing a mentor or sponsor that will give you the time of
